Estate Living Magazine Investment - Issue 34 October 2018 | Page 51

St Francis Links Maturity Level 3 This home owner understands that there are a number of other home owners with similar interests or issues to theirs so they claim to represent other members. For example, they could be dog owners who object to the number of dogs permitted or the barking restrictions. Or perhaps they own a small property, and now request to pay a lower levy, claiming to represent this class of owner. Maturity Level 4 Those who make an effort to understand the needs and issues of all the major stakeholders on the estate and other external parties with power to disrupt the smooth running and general ambience of the estate. They understand the demographics in the estate (age, gender, children, sporting interests, club membership, etc.). They also understand that there are other parties who can influence the quality of life on the estate, like management and staff, affiliated clubs, neighbours, other estates close by, the municipality or other local authorities, the provincial authorities (roads, etc.), even Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS)! They try to serve all stakeholders by taking their collective interests and issues into account, and they seek balanced decisions when deciding on matters that will affect those stakeholders. They strive for win-win solutions and avoid zero-sum games where one wins and others lose. They will not be influenced by internal pressure groups but strive to be fair to all. They subjugate their own narrow interest and needs in the interest of the majority. Maturity Level 5 Once in a while an estate is fortunate to have a director who can take the board and the estate to favourable places that they would n ot have imagined or would not have got to on their own without him/her. This is the transformational leader who has achieved Maturity Level 4 and holds a long-term focus and strives for best practice and visionary leadership so that everybody involved ends up in beneficial positions not previously imagined or understood. T ransformational leadership is a style of leadership where a leader works with teams to identify needed change, creating a vision to guide the change through inspiration, and executing the change in tandem with committed members of a group.” Development of directors The challenge is to develop technically competent directors by increasing their understanding and awareness of the needs of all relevant stakeholders – for example, by conducting a formal stakeholder analysis – and then encouraging balanced decisions with a long-term focus that will benefit all the relevant stakeholders. Janssen Davies, Chairperson White River Country Estate and Berg en Dal Estate White River Country Estate Dainfern Nooitgedacht Estate www.estate-living.co.za | 49